Patience...patience, patience...for the past three days I have tried to focus on being more patient. Every time I turn around I am being faced with new and diverse tests of my patience to varying degrees. The extremely slow driver in front of me, the demanding person asking me to do some tedious task that they could do their self, the person who believes they are doing something for my benefit with an ulterior motive that is actually self-motivated, the list goes on and on. Let me breakdown my last day and a half...
Yesterday, Sunday, I was blessed to work the the Seahawks football game against the Rams for the NFC Championship. A big game with a big production for NBC's Sunday night football. The broadcast crew was made up mainly of the traveling crew with about eight lucky local freelance hires. i was called directly by one contact to be a runner/production assistant for the staff coming in, a gig that doesn't pay very well, but when you don't have a regular job you've gotta take what is offered when it's offered. My name was also given to the game day crewer by someone who was already working and for that I was very thankful, (the broadcast side pays nearly 3x the other rate). Okay, get to the point already!
Game day is a very hectic day. After being a runner for the previous days, the person who I had been working for still had a few things on her list for me to do, even though I wasn't working for her. Her list included, renewing a memebership at Costco, bringing in spaghetti al dente for her boss, buying two cans of Campbells chicken and rice soup and coming in an hour earlier than I actual call time. Her first call to me was at 8am and by 9:56am I had spoken with or been texted 5 times, patience. As I arrived at the stadium I was blessed with a parking pass for the Qwest Field parking garage and I happily parked and unloaded my list of items I had gotten on my way in. Arms loaded, I headed to the elevator to the 2nd floor where for the past ten years we were allowed to walk out a down next to the elevators then down the stairs to the tv compound. Not today! I was directed to walk all the way to the other end of the parking garage, down the stairs, to security at the access road where my two bags where searched and I was patted down. PAtience... Dropping off my list of scavenger hunt items and the corresponding receipts, I went to the loading dock entry to head into the break room and check out the game assignments for the utilities. Low and behold, more security, another search of my bag and another pat down and I am finally allowed to enter the tv compound. PATience...Fast forward to the end of the game as we are finished with the strike, our out time is 11:45pm, I've been at the stadium for nearly 13 hours. When I get to the 6th floor of the parking garage, there are two other cars along with my own, it's below 30 degrees and a cold wind is blowing. I open my car door to an odd sounding tone/beep that I have never heard, therefore don't recognize. Upon turning the key the tone becomes more insistent my car doesn't start. It is then that I see my headlight are turned on and they have been on ALL day long! My battery is dead...PATIence...I call one of the other utilities who is parked in the other garage to check if he has jumper cables, no such luck. I head back down the elevator to go to security, now I can go out the 2nd floor door and down the stairs to the security control room. At this time of night there is only two people on duty, one of which is heading to attend to an emergency with a night worker and awaiting the arrival of medical aid unit. Talking to the man on duty he said that they had a hand held car jumper that he could bring up once the other security officer returned. He said it would be about 10-15 minutes and took my phone number to call me when he was on his way up. I thanked him and said I would be waiting for him and his assistance. PATIEnce...
As I arrived back at my car, one of the other cars was just getting ready to leave a mid size suv. He saw that I had my hood up and came over to offer assistance. I let him know I had left my headlights on and needed a jump. He pulled his truck up to my car and asked if I had jumper cables. I told him no and the checked that back of his rig and unfortunately he didn't have either. I thanked him for the offer and let him know security was going to come help me. As I sat and pondered my dilemma, I recalled a conversation that Julie and I had just the other day about getting AAA for the family. The irony was not lost on me and I could hear a small chuckle (either angles or God, i'm not sure which).
My car is a manual transmission and I recalled from my youth that I started more than one of my cars by giving it a push down a hill and popping the clutch, compression starting the car. Sounded like a viable idea and the ramp down to the 5th floor was only about 30 yards away. So, while I was waiting I decided to try the old fashioned way. At first it wasn't so tough pushing my car. Unfortunately, I had to push it forward and then try to turn while I was pushing so I could get my car facing in the right direction to go down the ramp. 30 yards turned into nearly 50 yards as I almost doubled my route to get where I wanted to go. Once I was lined up, I gave it a final push, jumped in and coasted down the ramp. After gaining some speed and momentum I popped the clutch and my car tried to start, but not quite enough. PATIENce...As I coasted to a stop I realized the key was in the wrong position! It was only in the accessory slot, not the start position...little things sometimes can make a huge difference! The silver lining was that I was now under a light and could see my battery in the trunk much better, so that was helpful. At this point I had been waiting for nearly 25 minutes when my friend who I had called earlier called me back to check in on me, I let him know I was still waiting for security but they would be there soon. He offered to come back to get me and give me a ride home if it I couldn't get my car started.
Security called and said they were on their way up. A few minutes later, he came up with the hand held battery jumper. I connected the charger and crossed my fingers. My car needed more juice than the hand held device could provide. The security guy, said he had jumper cables in his Ford Explorer and he would be back in a couple of minutes to give me a jump. Ten minutes later...PATIENCe...he came driving up and we hooked up the cables. First try my car turned over and I was driving home. I called my friend and let him know that I was on my way and thanked him for his concern and willingness to help. Nearly an hour after I was released I was finally heading home after a long day.
As I merged onto the freeway and sped up to the flow of traffic, obviously in a hurry to just get home and end the day, there he was, a state patrolman that was driving just over the speed limit. We all drove 63 mph for the next 20 miles until Federal Way when someone with not enough PATIENCE went flying by at probably close to 80mph and the officer decided to have a talk with him. The state patrol car's lights blossomed blue and red in the crisp night he pulled the car over.
Long story, just a little longer...I made it home safely, weary and worn out my patience tested but not broken, thanking God for another day and praying for the blessings to wake to another! I am sure more lessons are on their way and challenges that I will need to face and overcome. How I handle them is the key, Thank you God for these opportunities to become a better me!
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